Team British Columbia showing starch as one of Scotties' rookie teams

British Columbia skip Corryn Brown is feeling good so far about her team’s performance at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and she’s hoping to keep the momentum moving through the rest of the week. 

Brown, 24, is making her first appearance at the Scotties this year, but she’s not alone: vice-skip Erin Pincott, 24, second Dezaray Hawes, 23, and Ashley Klymchuk, 26, are all also experiencing the national championship for the first time this year. 

As one of only two teams entirely under 30 years of age, these four are hardly letting the numbers affect their play out on the rink. 

British Columbia opened their tournament with a pair of wins right off the bat, against Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories. 

They then followed with a tough contest against Scotties' alumni Jennifer Jones with Team Wild Card and another well-fought game against Ontario heavyweight Rachel Homan, both ending with a loss for Brown — but not by much in either case.  

“Having two good games against Jennifer Jones and then Rachel Homan has really built some confidence,” said Brown, following the draw against Homan. “We hope we can continue some of the momentum that we've gained these last two games.” 

The confidence obviously worked, as Brown went on to rebound from her loss to Homan with an impressive win against Team Yukon and Hailey Birnie the following draw.

The team’s young age isn’t feeling like a concern to Brown as of yet, as all four players have played some high-level tournaments already under their collective belts. 

Brown has collected gold medals from the 2013 Junior Women’s Under-21 Curling Championships and the 2011 Canada Winter Games, playing alongside Pincott. She also headed to the World Junior’s in 2013 and played in the Youth Olympic Games. 

“We've definitely been in some big games before. Obviously, this is kind of a whole new stage for us, but we're happy with how we're dealing with all the pressures,” said Brown. 

For Brown, being a rookie team entering their first Scotties, having experience at a high level of competition makes a difference. 

“Definitely the experience of this high level I think makes a difference,” said Brown. “I think we've proved that we belong here. Obviously, we'd like to have a little bit better record, but we're pretty happy with how we're doing.”

There is a certain advantage, Brown said, to being a younger team with fewer accolades drawing the spotlight right away. 

“I think there's lots of people cheering for teams like that, so sometimes it's nice to fly under the radar and people might not expect us to perform as well as we do,” said Brown. 

Brown and Team British Columbia return to the rink with a morning draw on Feb. 19 against Newfoundland and Labrador’s Erica Curtis, followed immediately by an afternoon draw against Nova Scotia’s Mary-Anne Arsenault.